Reasons To Be Missed
by mollyxsmiles
Summary: Bella and Jacob are the best of friends, and always have been. But when Jacob gets back from his Vegas trip, he slowly starts to change. What is Jacob hiding? Their lives will never be the same. I suck at summaries, and this is my first fanfic, spare me
1. Chapter 1

Some people you've known forever. They've earned your trust and always seem to be there for you, like they're going to stick with you through everything. You have this connection with them that you never imagined possible with anyone before. But things change, and life will surprise you, as it continues to surprise me.

I woke up to the sunshine coming through my window shades. A yawn sneaked out of me. I stretched out my arms and looked over to my alarm clock, rubbing my eyes to see the time was exactly 5:30 am. I got up and walked over to my mirror. My long, dark brown hair tossed and twisted into messy waves. I scratched my arm as I made my way over to my dresser. I had about an hour and a half until I had to get in my Audi A4 convertible to drive to school. Luckily, my school was only about 5 minutes away from here. I threw on my jeans and shirt and began to work on brushing through through the knots in my hair. I had a little more energy than usual that morning. My best friend, Jacob, came home from Las Vegas after 2 weeks.

Jacob was the coolest person I had ever known. He was my best friend in the entire world. He was the only person I genuinely felt I could tell anything to. For as long as I've known him, we were closer than close. We met when we were only in 1st grade. I could remember the first time we talked to each other. I was in the cafeteria by myself, looking for a spot to sit, when this skinny, brown-haired, green-eyed boy spilled his applesauce all over me. A couple of girls from my class pointed and snickered. I could still feel the blood rushing to my face to this day. I also remembered him blushing. He used to stutter when he was little, so instead of saying "I'm sorry," he said, "Uh, um, oh gosh... I-I-I'm sorry. You see, my shoe lace was untied, and I-"

But I cut him off before he said anything else.

"Don't worry about it, accidents happen." I muttered, feeling more embarrassed than ever. I grabbed a paper towel from one of the lunch aids and moved along, trying to find someplace where I could disappear. I sat in the corner of the room at a table alone. Jacob continued on, looking for a spot to sit. After about a minute and a half of searching for any empty spaces, he came over to where I was sitting.

"Do you mind?" he asked.

"I suppose not," I said, looking down. He probably thought I was a klutzy freak with no friends. Even though this was true, being the new kid, I did not want anyone to know that yet. Especially boys.

"So where'd you move from?" he asked, curious. I raised my eyebrow, confused that he was actually asking that question.

"Um, I lived in Long Island, New York. I got here about a week ago. Today's only my third day here," I explained, but not to a point where it might annoy him. I did not want to lose the only friend I might possibly have.

"That's interesting! What's it like there? I've never been outside of New Jersey before," Jacob added with slight excitement. We continued to talk, and wound up spending the rest of the day together, and we've been friends ever since.

I turned up the radio to hear Z100 playing the end of "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift, only for the millionth time. I tapped my toe to the beat as I gathered my books and put on my eyeliner. As the song changed over to some rap song I've never listened to in my life, I heard my step-mom calling my name from downstairs.

"Bella, you have ten minutes! Come downstairs and have a bagel before you leave," she called.

"Coming!" I yelled back, rolling my eyes. Esme can get so paranoid, but I still adored her. She married my dad when I was eleven. My biological mother moved to Maine, which is a good distance away from Massachusetts. I'm not really upset without my mom though because she wasn't nice to be around, from what I could remember. I heard my dad say once that my mom was the type of person that if you did one thing wrong, she had to make a scene. My dad, Charlie, told me he was in love with my mom, but she changed, so they divorced. I was about 7, and I only remember my mother vaguely. She hasn't even tried to make any communication with me since she left. So I figured it's better that I wasn't attached to her.

Two years later, my dad met Esme. Esme was a tall, beautiful, blonde woman managing the Home Depot in town. My dad was always in there for tiles, fans, nails, paints, etc. He's a home re-furnisher, so he's always re-doing our own home. I remember Esme being described as my dad's "special friend", but at the young age of 9, I didn't really understand what that meant. Little did I know that a little over two years later, I'd be calling her "mom". I didn't have a problem with Esme being a part of my family, though. She treated me special, like I was important. Esme was a good change.

I ran my fingers through my wavy locks as I packed my notebook into my bag. I checked the clock - it was 6:46 am. I had less than fifteen minutes to get to school. I ran downstairs and took a seat by my older sister, Rosalie. Rosalie was 18 years old and in her junior year of high school. She was pretty tall, about 5" 7', with long blonde hair. She had a reputation for being very popular in her grade, and even in others. She's had more boyfriends than I can count, only a few I actually remembered.

Me and Rosalie have been close ever since we were little. We made a promise to tell each other everything when she turned 13, and the promise hasn't been broken for four years straight. The one thing I never asked about was what our mom was really like. All I knew for sure is that Rosalie never really liked the idea of our dad re-marrying. She says when I was a baby, they were inseparable. She said she couldn't imagine him with anyone else, no matter how nice they were. When Rosalie met Esme, she basically pretended like she wasn't even alive. Rosalie still isn't really comfortable with Esme being a parental figure. Rosalie will acknowledge her now, but still has a bad attitude towards her. It made me feel bad for Ez though; she's such a nice person, and it was a shame she was being treated this way. But I figured Rosalie couldn't really help herself, so I stayed out of it.

I bit into my cream cheese bagel as Esme brought out the orange juice. She had a wide smile across her face, as usual.

"It's Tropicana, no pulp. Your favorite!" she shrieked excitedly as she handed the glass to Rosalie. Rosalie glared at the juice.

"Um, thanks, I guess..." Rosalie mumbled as she pressed the tip of the glass to her lips. "So Bells! I hear Jacob's back from Vegas?"

"Yeah, he came back yesterday. He'll be in school today," I explained.

"That's good. I haven't seen him in so long! It's a little weird because he's usually here 24/7," Rosalie pointed out. I smiled as I finished off my bagel and grabbed my stuff.

"Yeah, it's going to be great to see him. I've got to go, I only have six minutes until I'm late to school. See you later," I said as I walked out the door and into my car. As I put the car into gear, I started to remember Jacob. It really was going to be nice to see him after being gone for a week. With me and Jacob, not seeing each other for a week is like not seeing each other for a year. We spend nearly every waking moment with one another. I had called him the night before he left, but it wasn't the same as seeing him in person. Surprisingly, I hadn't heard from him at all since we talked on the phone. Hearing his voice again would be refreshing too. It was strange, being without him. Going to school without meeting him at my locker, driving home from school together... it was all so empty without Jacob being there to brighten my day. Every day without my best friend was simply dull, sort of like a pencil after taking a long test. There's just no more quality to it anymore. I never realized how Jacob affected me until he had left. But that would soon be all over. He was back.

I parked my car in the closest spot to the school. I could see Jacob's Volkswagen Jetta parked a few spaces ahead of mine. Knowing he was here again made me smile. I shuffled all my things together and hopped out of my Audi. Shoving past the mob of teenage girls, giggling at whatever they were gossiping about, I walked over to my locker, thrilled to see Jacob waiting for me.

"Long time, no see!" I called as she approached her friend.

"Mi amigo! Como estas?" Jake cried as he gave me a reuniting hug. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, giving me one good squeeze before letting me go.

"Haha, I'm good. How was your trip with Emmett?" I asked as I put in the combination to my locker, which usually took a good four tries until it actually worked. Emmett was Jacob's older brother, who had been dying to get Jacob to Vegas. Jacob was staring at the ground.

"Oh, it was fine," he said as he leaned against the locker next to mine. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Are you alright? Something seems wrong," I asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he mumbled again, still looking at the floor.

"Okay then. So, you want to come over after school? We can play Twister. I also got a pound's worth of skittles that needs to be consumed, which I figure won't be an issue, since it's you," I laughed, knowing how much he adored Skittles. If Jacob were to be stranded on an island and could only bring one food, it would most likely be Skittles. It was his guilty pleasure. Jacob smiled.

"Sure, I'd love to!" he exclaimed, seeming excited to get back into the old routine. I closed my locker.

"Cool. I'll meet you in the parking lot after school. Okay?"

"Sounds good," Jacob confirmed, making his way to homeroom. I turned the opposite direction and starting walking to 1st period with Ms. Newton, but Alice stopped me. Before I knew it she had her hands gripped tightly around my arms. She looked like she had something to say, grinning slyly.

"May I help you?" I asked, taken by surprise.

"I saw that you know," Alice said, still smiling.

"What? Freddy? Yeah, he's back. We're hanging out after school today for the usual Monday stuff. Do you want to come?" I offered.

"Oh, yeah. Sure, sounds like fun. But you really just don't see how you are, do you?" she asked, changing the topic. Alice was very good at that. She always needed to prove her point. I've always told her she would make an awesome lawyer. Whenever she tries to convince me of something, I usually give in. She was great at tricking you into thinking she was correct. It was a good thing she didn't deal drugs.

"What do you mean, I don't see how I am?" I asked, extremely confused. I had said less than 6 sentences to her and already I was acting in some way?

"Oh never mind. You'll come to your senses one day. Ignore me, I'll let you figure this one out on your own." she stated, satisfied, skipping away. I stood there, trying to understand what she could mean. I gave up after a while. I figured she was right, and that I'd figure it out in my own time.

After school that day, Jacob drove me and Alice to my house. Esme was delighted to see Jacob back, as was Rosalie. Jacob might has well have lived in my house. He was here at least 4 out of 7 times a week. Mondays were never questioned if he would be coming home with me or not. It was always obvious that Jacob would be here. He always came on Mondays. Jacob and I had developed this weekly get together back in 5th grade, when Jacob was in football camp for the summer. I hadn't gotten to hang out with him for 3 weeks straight, since the camp was a sleep-away camp. We both decided we need a day where we will most definitely hang out. Just one day out of the week which was guaranteed we would see one another. It became a tradition after the first couple months. Now it had become involuntary, almost like instinct. Just a part of our daily routine. Alice joined us every once in a while, which we didn't mind.

"Jacob, you're SO cheating!" Alice accused, nearly dying from laughter. In the middle of Twister, Jacob had gotten himself in the most awkward position; his hand crossed over mine to touch the blue circle as his foot reached over my back and onto the red spot on the left side of me. His other foot was on the green back by my foot, and he had one arm still free.

"I am not! This is hard work, Alice. Just spin the spinner. My feet are on the correct colors, and so is my hand," he retorted.

"I said left hand yellow, not blue!" Alice argued.

"You lie," he accused.

"Can we just keep playing!? I don't know how much-" I collapsed before I could finish scolding my friends. This was great for their own amusement, and they continued to laugh at me.

"Aw, fuck, I lost. AGAIN. Oh, and thanks guys. I'm glad you find my pain funny!" I joked.

"Bella, I don't know why you insist we play Twister every Monday. You fucking suck at it!" Jacob teased, giggling. I rolled my eyes and got up to get myself some water. Alice looked down at her watch, like she compulsively does about every 10 minutes.

"It's almost six, I have to be home for dinner. I'm going to walk home. Bye guys!" she said, making her way towards the door. She stopped halfway out and came back inside, running to me.

"Almost forgot! This is for you. And you ONLY," she emphasized, glaring at Jacob. Jacob raised his hands in innocence. Alice made her way out again. Jacob took an apple from my kitchen and made himself right at home, as usual. I laughed at him.

"You know, Jacob, it's pretty awesome how you're comfortable enough to just walk into my kitchen and grab whatever you fancy," I pointed out. He grinned.

"But that's why you love me!" he teased. I felt myself blush a little. Soon the phone started to ring. It was Jacob's dad, Jasper. As Jacob talked, his face fell little by little.

"Oh. Right, okay. No, I haven't said anything. I will, Dad. Eventually. It's not time yet... okay. Yes. I'll be home in a few. Alright, bye." he said, hanging up. He looked up at me, looking slightly upset.

"What's up?" I asked, hoping everything was okay.

"I have to go home, I almost forgot I have a doctor's appointment in about an hour," he explained. I frowned a little, but then smiled.

"Well what are you waiting for? Get the hell out of here," I said, jokingly. This perked him back up, and he laughed again.

"Fine! I'm out of here! Bitch," he said, winking. He gave me a hug, then unexpectedly kissed my forehead. "See you tomorrow," he added. Then he was gone, yet again. I sighed.

I sat down and turned Comedy Central. They were playing a rerun of Dane Cook's "Isolated Incident", which was my personal favorite. I couldn't force myself to watch those stupid reality shows everyone was into on MTV, like Jersey Shore or Teen Mom. It was so stupid to me that every second I tried to watch I could feel my IQ dropping point by point. Just as Dane started telling his joke about the rude waitress and things he didn't want on his sandwich, I remembered the note Alice had given me. I dug in my pockets and soon felt the point of the folded paper. I crinkled it open. It had said,

Bella,

Meet me in the parking lot after school tomorrow. I have something really important to tell you.

Make sure Jacob doesn't show up. Thank you.

Love, Alice.


	2. Chapter 2

"What about you, Bella? Do you know the answer to number 6?" Ms. Darling asked, unaware I was zoning out of her lecture. I had a hard time focusing on my work that day. It was rare that Alice had something so important that she could only tell me, and not include Jacob too. My mind raced about what could be happening. She had mentioned something about Edward a few weeks ago, but she never specified on what it was. But it had to be important. It was unlike Alice to have to meet up with me outside of school rather than just tell me at any chance she got. Alice was an impatient person. I soon remembered that Ms. Darling was staring at me, along with the rest of the class, waiting for my reply.

"Um… yes, it's negative three fourths." I responded, looking down at my homework, searching quickly for the answer. Ms. Darling smiled.

"Yes! That's correct. Good job, Bella. Did you hear that, Eric? It's negative three fourths," she repeated, pointing out Eric, who was falling asleep on his desk. He sleepily brought his head back up.

"Yeah, totally…" he mumbled, rolling his eyes and shuffling through papers.

"Do you know _why_ it's negative three fourths?" she asked, doubt hidden in her voice.

"What do _y_ou think?" Eric snapped, growing irritated. Ms. Darling frowned at him and put her hands on her hips. She was clearly not happy.

"How would you like to get double detention for that attitude?" Ms. Darling threatened, growing tired of Eric's daily sass. Unfortunately, Eric just sat there and laughed.

"How would _you_ like to suck my dick?" he responded beneath his breath. But Ms. Darling was not a stupid woman. She immediately walked over to her desk, searching for the detention forms. But she only seemed to grow more aggravated. She looked up at me.

"Bella, would you do me a favor and go down to the main office and ask for 10 more detention slips?" her voice now changed over to a friendly tone. I nodded in agreement, sliding out of my desk.

As I made my way down to the main office, I caught a glimpse of Alice sitting at the other end of the hall. She was holding her head in her hands. Immediately suspecting something was wrong, I ran to the end of the hall where she was sitting. She was breathing pretty heavily, but I couldn't understand why. Hoping to comfort her, I put my arm around her. Could she be crying?

" Alice ! Alice , what's wrong?" I asked in a panicked voice. As Alice lifted her head up, I automatically noticed the smudged eyeliner and mascara around her eyelids. Her eyes were red and she looked overwhelmed. Even as she realized it was only me, she continued to breathe heavily and sniffle here and there.

"I… I can't talk about this now. Not here…" she trailed off, beginning to cry more. It pained me to see her so upset.

"Okay, well then you should go to guidance. They can help you for now and you can talk to me after school like we wanted to do anyway," I suggested, hoping she might calm herself down.

"No! I can't tell this to my own mother, let alone some school official I barely know. No. I only want to tell you for now. But like I said, it can't be here. Meet me in the parking lot like we had originally planned," Alice refused, looking more serious and upset than I had ever seen her. I stoked her hair, hoping she would breathe.

"Okay, okay. I will, I promise," I assured her. She buried her face back into her hands.

"How could I be so stupid? I never thought I would be one to make this kind of mistake! I don't know what I'm going to do. My mom and dad will murder me if they find out. Oh my god, Bella. I can't do this! I really can't! I'm only sixteen!" she cried, grabbing my hand. She squeezed it so hard I could feel her cutting off my blood circulation.

" Alice , I don't understand what's wrong, but now is not the time for explaining. You need to calm down and get back to class. I know Mr. Bellamy will count you as a cut for being out of class for so long… speaking of which, how long have you been out here for?" I asked curiously. She rubbed some of the eye makeup off her bottom eyelid.

"About 15 minutes now," she finally replied with a sigh.

"Okay. What you need to do is go to the bathroom and wash all that makeup off. Splash your face with some cold water, then go to the nurse. Say you fell and bumped your knee and that's why you were crying. Tell her you need to sit in her office until the end of the period because you're sore. Mrs. Paisley is cool, so she shouldn't mind. Then it'll count as an excused absence for that class," I informed her. She gave me a smiled at me.

"I can't thank you enough, Bella," gratefully looking at me. I rubbed my thumb against her hand, happy she was cooling off.

"It's no problem. I'll see you after school," I got up and began to walk over to the main office and Alice stood up, on her way to the bathroom like I had suggested. Sucking in a breath I tried to handle all the confusion that had just overwhelmed me.

The final bell couldn't come soon enough. The hall flooded with a crowd of teenagers, none of which I recognized at the moment. My eyes scanned the school for Alice, who was nowhere to be seen. Instead I saw Jacob, who was waiting for me by his locker, already ready to leave.

"I can't hang out today, Jake," I said apologetically. His smile dropped slightly.

"Oh, why not?" he asked, looking disappointed.

"It's about the note she gave me. She needs to see me privately. Sounded like an emergency…" I explained.

"Oh, okay. I understand. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Alright," I agreed, giving him a hug. I then made my way out the doors of the school and into the parking lot. From stairs I could already see Alice waiting for me by her yellow Porsche. She leaned against it with a pout on her face. Remembering how she had been earlier, I ran to her, hoping things had gotten better.

"Hey," she said as I approached her. She smiled slightly, but it didn't last.

"Hey! How's everything? Did you go to the nurse?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I did. The nurse emailed my teacher. Everything's cool. Well, at least in that department," she said, looking to the floor. I frowned.

" Alice , what's going on?" I demanded. Alice blinked to keep herself from crying again. But as hard as she tried, the tear forming in the corner of her eye got out of her, rolling down her cheek. She took in a deep breath and hugged me. There was a long pause before she finally whispered in my ear,

"I'm pregnant, Bella."

Nothing but silence filled the air in which I could not breathe in. I could literally feel my jaw drop as I attempted to soak in the information she had just sprung on me. I had the same intense surprise fill inside me as when I accidently play my iPod at full volume. Ironically, for the amount of thoughts filling my head I could not get my mouth to move. Speaking was suddenly an impossible task. The wind ruffling the leaves in the trees above us was like thunder interrupting the dead, quiet air. I tried to collect myself so I could show my friend support, before I could respond in any way, Alice began to cry again.

"Oh, Alice … what are you going to do?" I managed to whisper.

"Would I be standing here crying my eyes out if I knew what I should do? I'm driving myself insane! I can't get an abortion, Bella. I really can't. I refuse to murder my own son or daughter," she exploded. Thankfully no one was around to hear us. Voices travelled like jet planes in our high school parking lot. Anyone within hearing distance was indoors, to our luck. Being pregnant is definitely not something you want going around, and especially when you're in high school. I rubbed my head, trying to handle the situation as it came at me, full speed ahead.

"Does Edward know?" I asked, imagining how Edward would handle all this. Edward was Alice 's boyfriend of 2 years. He was extremely awkward, but overall a really nice guy, although he was not always this way. We had gone to the same elementary school when I originally moved here. I can still remember how he would make fun of Jacob when we sat together at lunch. It was strange to find a boy hanging out with a girl when we were that young. All the girls hung out with the girls, and the boys with the boys. It wasn't until 6th grade when everyone integrated. Edward sadly didn't mature until around eighth grade. But clearly things had changed since then. Thinking of the time, I began to miss being young; caring only about recess, snack time, and watching SpongeBob as soon as we got home. Back when boys still believed we had cooties… obviously not so much anymore. Realizing Alice 's eyes had gone to a look of terror, I snapped out of my memory.

" Alice ?" I asked, nervous as to what other horrible news she could be keeping. She looked down, hopeless.

"I don't know if it belongs to Edward," Alice announced, guilt sneaking out of her. I frowned, not understanding how else this could have happened.

"It wasn't Edward that you… did things with?" I asked.

"Well, yes. It was. About 3 weeks ago. But do you remember how we got into that huge fight?"

"Yeah, I think so. He was mad at you for hanging out with Bryan that one day, and you got pissed off at him for not trusting you, right?" I tried to remember. Alice nodded her head.

"Yeah, well… umm, I might've taken things a little bit too far. I got really angry that he would think I was cheating on him after the 2 years we've been together. I thought he knew me better than that. So I figured I'd do something that would get him jealous, you know, piss him off even more to prove my point. If I just sat there and let him accuse me, I'd feel like I lost, and you know how much I hate that. So I told Bryan to pick me up after school. I told Edward that I had soccer practice so that he wouldn't try to call me or something. Bryan drove me to his house, and I never ever planned on actually doing anything, Bella. Honestly, I would never do anything to hurt Edward… nothing extreme, anyway. But Bryan 's parents were at work, and he had drinks in his basement. At that point I thought Edward was going to be breaking up with me soon, so I didn't really care about what might happen. I had already lost the person I love most in the world, and my care for anything bad happening to me was not in tact. So I took a beer… or two," she explained, pain showing in her eyes.

"You didn't, Alice ," I trailed off, hoping my imagination was simply making cruelly false assumptions.

"Bella, it was never intentional," she claimed. "It was only because I was bummed. I truly thought Edward was just going to leave me soon so I figured it didn't matter either way. But one thing lead to another, and things happened, which believe me, I truly, _truly_ regret," she said, her hand falling to her belly. Tears welled up in her eyes again.

"So, it might be Bryan 's?" I asked, feeling my headache come upon me like a bullet train. She nodded.

"But I'm not sure. So please, Bella, I'm begging you, do not tell anyone of this. Not your mom, not Jacob, no one. I'll tell people when I'm ready. I'd rather not have my mother hear from people in school rather than me," she explained, disparity in her voice. I agreed and hugged her.

"No matter what you choose, I'm here for you Alice. You know that, don't you?"

"Of course, Bella. I trust you more than anyone," she smiled slightly. I looked down at my watch and checked the time. Was it really 3:30 already?

"I'm sorry Alice , I wish I could stay longer, but it's late. I'll catch you later," I apologized, feeling guilty just leaving her in her time of need. But I knew if I stayed I would be grounded, and then I would not be able to see Alice at all. She hugged me again, understandingly.

"It's fine. Just give me a call when you get the chance, okay? You're the only person I can talk to about this," Alice mumbled.

I agreed then quickly hopped into my car. Pulling out of the high school parking lot I felt the warm April air hit my face and flow through my long hair. It was refreshing after such a stressful conversation. Blasting the radio, I drove down ____ Street, attempting to relax. Just as I pulled into the driveway, I heard the muffled sound of my ringtone playing Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold. To my luck, it was hidden at the bottom of my bag and I missed the call. My cell phone's front screen read "One Missed Call … Jacob." I laughed at myself muttering, _should've known_. I shoved my phone in my back pocket and jumped out of my Audi. Looking around the messy yard, I assumed Ez had been getting a start on planting flowers and fruits and such. Spring was her favorite time of year. If you found Esme inside on a spring day, it had to be raining. She adored the sunshine, it made her even happier than she normally is. As I made my way to the front door I finally spotted her in the backyard pulling up weeds. Her old overalls were covered with dirt, which matched her brown gardening gloves. She was wearing a cheap old pair of sunglasses on her head, which tucked into the messy bun sitting on top of her head like a bird's nest. This sight made me smile. I too loved this time of year. Everything seemed better and everyone perked up. Spring fever must be one of the greatest feelings in the world, because nearly everyone caught it in my town. I caught Esme's eye as she lifted her head from her work.

"Bella! Jacob called three times already. Last call was a few minutes ago. He said he needed to tell you something mildly important, and sounded slightly disappointed for some reason," Esme informed me, confusion hidden in her voice. I frowned.

"That's strange. Okay. I'll give him a call," I reassured my stepmother. Hitting speed dial #2, the ringing of the other line echoed in my ear. It must have been important for him to call so many times. Jake picked up on the third ring.

"There you are, where the hell have you been?" he asked excitedly. I couldn't tell if what he needed to talk to me about was positive or negative, but only that his enthusiasm was in full effect.

" Alice asked me to stay after. Girl talk," I explained barely, hoping he wouldn't try to investigate any further, "anyway, what did you need? You called, like, four fucking times." I said with a giggle. There was silence on the other end, and for the first time in a long time, I felt extreme awkwardness between us. It only lasted a few seconds, when Jake finally responded.

"Oh. That's cool I guess. And nothing, it's actually not important anymore. I'll tell you later," he said softly. I frowned again.

"Uh, okay. Are you sure? You can tell me anything, Jake."

Another ten seconds of silence passed, still being awkward.

"Yeah, it's fine, no worries. So, how was your day?" he started less awkward conversation, which I appreciated. We haven't had an awkward conversation since sixth grade, when the health teacher came in to talk about puberty. I shuddered at the memory.

"It was… interesting. But Jake, I can't talk. I'm really tired and just want to take a nap. I'll text you, alright?" I promised.

"Okay. Sounds good, talk to you later," Jake said goodbye, hanging up. I tossed my phone on the couch. I turned on the T.V. to watch some stupid cartoon on Nickelodeon. Not really paying much attention to the program, I felt myself dozing. Soon enough I was passed out, dreaming. This dream was different than my normal dreams. I wouldn't call it a nightmare, but it did scare me a little. Oddly enough, this dream wasn't necessarily just plain scary. It was mesmerizing. Jake was there, Alice was there, Edward and Bryan were there, even Alice's baby, who couldn't even be considered a baby yet, was there too… we were all floating. You could even say we were flying. But we weren't alone. We were on a boat, a flying boat, drifting into a sea of colors and confusion as fast as lighting, with no intensions of stopping.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three **

Three days had passed without a sight of Alice. I started to really worry for her. I had called her cell nearly thirty times in the past two days, but got nothing but her voice recording in response. It was Monday again, and Jacob and I were planning on hanging out, like usual. Majority of the time Alice joined us, so it was going to be a little strange. Not that I minded hanging out alone with Jacob. We actually hadn't hung out just the two of us in the longest time. Since Alice and I became friends sophomore year, she's sort of tagged along with us for everything. Time alone with Jacob was limited lately. I tried shrugging it off. Alice would return my calls when she's ready, and it would be nice to chill with Jacob alone. I brought myself to smile as I closed my squeaky locker in synchronization with the eighth period bell.

_Shit, I'm late_, I thought to myself. As I sped-walked down the hallway in a rush to get to class, which I was late for anyway, I noticed scintillant colors scattered down the halls. They read, "Are you ready for Prom! Get your ticket now! June 10!" I faintly remembered Leah from third period English saying something to me about the upcoming prom. She had been going on about how her current boyfriend, Embry, was renting this really nice car and buying a suit and everything stereotypical you'd expect out of a boyfriend taking his girl to a prom. Being single, I wasn't all that excited for prom, let alone have a desire to attend, so I tuned Leah out and focused on my work, occasionally nodding so she didn't realize I wasn't listening. The posters were extremely vibrant, nearly impossible to miss. Strangely, I hadn't noticed any of them until just now. Alice was on my mind all day, so I wasn't exactly paying great attention to anything but my school work. Not knowing what was happening made me crazy. _Did she tell her mom? Is she being sent away? Did she give in to getting an abortion?_ Questions like these spun around my head like a ferris wheel. Suddenly, I found myself coming to a stop, as I noticed Cara Johnson waving me down, a huge smile on her face. It had been almost a year since we last spoke. It's not that I disliked Cara. As a matter of fact, she was one of my closest friends in middle school. She was my best friend before I met Alice, aside from Jacob, of course. We had met in 7th grade because of a science project, which I faintly remember the both of us nearly failing due to our non-stop talking. We even got detention once because we were so chatty in that class. I nearly forgot about how close we used to be, since I barely ever see her anymore. She hangs out with people like Leah, who I can't be around for longer than an hour without wanting someone to stab me in the face. Cara looked really excited to see me, but I couldn't think of a logical reason why.

"Bella! Bella!" she cried, walking in my direction at a faster pace than normal. Feeling slightly awkward, I gave her a small wave following a half-smile. She took my response more happily than I would have expected.

"Hi, Cara. How have you been?" I asked politely. She smiled again.

"I'm fabulous! I'm actually leaving early, I have a doctor's appointment." Cara began to explain, but as soon as she said doctor, my mind immediately thought of Alice. Worry sunk in yet again. I frowned, but Cara hadn't seemed to notice. She continued, "I miss you though, Bell! Long time no see. Oh! Speaking of seeing, I hope you noticed by lovely Prom posters!" she squealed. I looked up at the neon yellow poster hanging above Cara's head.

"How could I not? They definitely draw attention," I admitted.

"I know," she laughed to herself, "I hope people like them. So, are you bringing anyone?"

"I'm not going." I said softly, hoping Cara wouldn't pull out an axe and start slashing me alive. I could tell how into the Prom she was, and since I was kind of her friend, I didn't want to insult her and her "artwork". Although she did look disappointed, she looked more piteous than insulted.

"Oh no, Bella. Why not? Even if you don't have a date, it's always a fun experience. I could have sworn you were going with Jacob though. I always hear from people about how cute you two are, and from what I remember, you always spend lots of time together." I could hear some attitude in her voice each time she said "always", which I couldn't say I didn't see coming. Cara was always the kind of person who needed to be the center of attention. Now that I thought about it, Jacob took a lot my attention away from her, so Cara probably got sick of trying and eventually gave up. I guess she was still had a pretty sour attitude towards him.

"Jacob and I are just friends, Cara." I tried to explain, frowning in confusion. Why would she think that Jacob and I were together? Or that we were planning on going to Prom?

"Alright, if you insist," she rolled her eyes a little as she adjusted her American Eagle tote bag hanging by her shoulder, "but I have to get to class now. We can talk later if you want! Text me! Bye!" Cara sped off down the hall with a smile on her face, as usual. I shook my head, recollecting my thoughts, and rushing down to 8th period health.

As I walked, I thought of Jacob and I as a couple. It was a strange thought because I had never considered it. My eyes widened a little when I tried to picture Jacob holding my hand, putting his arms around my waist, playing with my hair... such new thoughts I had a hard time processing it. But as I thought deeper into it, why would it be such a bad idea? It was undeniable that Jacob had everything. Football player, about six foot one inch tall, short, dark brown hair, big brown eyes, naturally tanned skin. But aside from his appearance, Jake was a wonderful person. He could make me laugh anywhere, anytime. He was the kind of friend you could call at 3 in the morning and he'd stay up all night listening to your problems, like tomorrow would never come. He'd defend you in whatever situation, but wasn't afraid to tell you when you're wrong. He had his opinion and stuck to it, but never disrespected your own. He was just overall good, almost so good sometimes it seems impossible. But there he stands, living and breathing, one of the best seventeen year old boys you could find.

I shook my head, forcing my thought process to come to a halt. What was I thinking about Jake so much for? We're friends, and only that. I didn't like him that way. And even if I had, there's no way he would return the favor.

Would he?


End file.
